For Immediate ReleaseJuly 3, 2013

I voted against Obamacare because I knew it was going to be unworkable, unwieldy and unmanageable.

Locally, we’ve read the news stories about school districts cutting the hours of cafeteria workers, custodians and secretaries to avoid having to provide health insurance. Those decisions cost those workers $1500 a year in wages, or more in some cases. Across the country, we are seeing growing evidence of private sector employers preparing to cancel benefits and cut hours.

This law is a lemon. People face losing the health coverage they want, losing their jobs or losing their hours all for a law that still leaves as many as 30 million people uncovered and that has already spent all the funds that were to cover individuals with pre-existing conditions.

Politically, Obamacare was introduced to help the electoral prospects of the Democrat Party in the 2010 elections. The delay in the implementation of the employer mandate is another political decision designed to help the electoral prospects of the Democrat Party in the 2014 elections.

There are commonsense, market-driven and health-driven reforms that can be made to replace Obamacare. I’ve supported them in the past and I still do.”

Reforms that Congressman Dent has supported and continues to support:

Providing low-cost catastrophic plans to younger individuals;

Allowing cross state purchasing;

Instituting high-risk pools and reinsurance plans as safety nets;

Allowing families to keep dependents on their insurance;

Cutting down on the practice of "law suit avoidance" medical practices by reforming medical liability laws;

Giving individuals the same tax treatment that businesses enjoy when it comes to health care costs;

Allowing for health savings accounts;

Covering more children by expanding the CHIP program (he has already voted to do this);

Targeting Waste, Fraud and Abuse in Medicare, for example;

Providing incentives to companies that promote company wellness initiatives;